9 shipwrecks from World War I discovered off Morocco’s southern coast

Nine ships sunk by German torpedoes during World War I have been found off the coast of Morocco, experts announced Monday, marking the latest in a string of shipwrecks from the war to be found in recent months.

The nine wrecks — which include Japanese, Norwegian, French, British, Portuguese and Italian vessels — are all located along the coast of southern Morocco, according to the Assalam Association for the Protection of Maritime Heritage, a nonprofit focused on preserving underwater archaeological sites in the region.

The association did not say whether it was able to identify the ships but it posted a video on social media of a news broadcast showing historic photos of various ships and divers exploring artifacts on the ocean floor.

“German submarines targeted commercial and military ships of allied countries, resulting in the loss of many ships off the southern provinces,” the association said.

Information about the exact location of the shipwrecks as well as a report detailing the characteristics of each vessel have been forwarded to relevant authorities, the association said.

The wrecks were found more than a decade after researchers discovered the wreck of the Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse, a famous German ship that was sunk during World War I, off the coast of Dakhla, Morocco.

Other shipwrecks from World War I have been discovered around the globe in recent months. In November, military officials in England announced that a shipwreck discovered off the coast of Scotland was confirmed to be the HMS Hawke

, a British cruiser sunk by a torpedo during World War I, killing more than 500 crew members on board.

About a month before that, the German World War I supply ship Titania was discovered by an expedition ship off the coast of Chile.

Last September, an offshore wind farm company discovered a shipwreck believed to be the World War I vessel the SS Tobol.